Rural Women NZ Martinborough

The Martinborough Branch of RWNZ hosted the very successful Lower North Island Regional Conference at Brackenridge on 21 and 22 June, with thirty six members from throughout the region attending, plus some members of the public for the Saturday afternoon session.

The conference began with “Friday Frolics”, a very enjoyable mystery trip with tastings and tours at Olivo Olive Grove and Murdoch James Estate Vineyard.

Saturday morning was taken up with RWNZ business which included a presentation from Kiri Elworthy and Jenny Bargh from “Tora Walk” who were the inaugural winners of the “RWNZ Enterprising Rural Women Award” in 2009.

All guest speakers gave very informative talks and were well received:
Paddy Twist included the art of writing submissions in her talk.
Julie Warnes covered Mental Health issues, particularly in the Rural Sector.
Heather Atkinson gave an overview of the South Wairarapa Bio-diversity Group.
Christine Barnett spoke about local archaeological sites.
Fran Wilde shared highlights of her career in local and central government.
Jared Guilan was a most entertaining after dinner speaker and had members in fits of laughter reading 2 chapters from his book “Moon Over Martinborough”.
Tai Chi with Keiko Nojimo was a very popular Sunday morning wake up.

Our grateful thanks to all of these people who gave willingly of their time.

Also a big thankyou to the local businesses who kindly contributed towards raffle prizes and speakers gifts. The money raised from the raffles has been forwarded to a RWNZ Appeal to help rebuild a school in The Solomons.

Martinborough turned on perfect weather and great service from Brackenridge Country Retreat and Providore Food and Catering completed an excellent weekend.